Comments on: The Jamaican-Jewish connection

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:49:58 +0000

Merq must be Lenny’s financial advisor.

By: bertie

bertie — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:42:51 +0000

lol–yeah Merq I’m a married man. But I appreaciate the sentiment.

By: mtevc

mtevc — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 20:49:04 +0000

yellow man is the best!

By: dez

dez — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 20:12:11 +0000

I am Jamaican. Matisyahu is ’so-so’ as far as reggae goes. I agree with what bertie has to say, but don’t believe this is the same case as “white people stealing the black peoples music”. The music industry is still a business and gimmicks sell … repeatedly.

The thing that surprised me was that it took this long. I have always marveled at the similarities between Rastafarianism and Hissidic Judaism

By: justin

justin — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 15:59:55 +0000

This site isn’t updating properly for me.
I’ve been missing out on so much.

By: justin

justin — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 15:18:20 +0000

The critics idea of minstrelsy is too broad. Minstrel shows take more from Punch and Judy than from black people (other than esteem). Even if the singer isn’t sincere, or if he is just a dilatant, as an appropriation it’s still pretty interesting.
Elvis is mixed. He’s King Creole. Pat Boone stole from black people.

By: Merq

Merq — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 05:09:26 +0000

John,
There’s no point debating this further. We obviously look at the same things and see them differently.

Daniel,
Artists make more money off touring than record sales? Gee, you don’t say!! Dumbass. The point is, Lenny isn’t “rich.” He may be comfortable, but he isn’t rich. You seem to forget that celebrities have incomes and expenses.
Oh yeah… and a good weekend to you too.

By: John

John — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 02:45:07 +0000

Merq,
I guess there are moments when we agree &…

Lenny’s name carries weight in the rock world and if that’s not “respect”, then what is?
He wasn’t lumped with the 80’s hair bands, the grunge explosion of the early 90’s, or the mall-punks of the late 90’s; Lenny was grouped with the “rock & roll establishment” (e.g. Sheryl Crow) that had mass appeal.
As a kid, Lenny was not respected during/shortly after his “Romeo Blue” phase (and with good reason!). But the old fart music critics eventually viewed him as part of rock & roll’s old guard.

Merq:
“You really do seem to have forgotten what the climate of America was.”

Dude, when the government was trying to silence Hip-Hop it was still EVERYWHERE. Do you remember that it was all over MTV, advertising, fashion…
If an artist was going to get on MTV (Mainstream Television… I mean Music Television) back then, you had to wear a flannel shirt, or be Hip-Hop. At the height of MTV’s new look, the new Hip-Hop and alternative rock artists (that saturated MTV programming) were snubbed by the Grammys. (btw, said Hip-Hop artists boycott the awards show; Will Smith won and accepted.) But Hip-Hop was still mainstream back then, Merq.
Even now, people like Bill O’Reilly try to shut down Hip-Hop (in between settling multimillion dollar sexual harassment suits out of court) and billion $ soda companies may agree with him…
But Hip-Hop is still mainstream, Merq.

“Do you remember… Pac and Biggie couldn’t score more than one #1 single in their lifetimes?”

Yes. And their lifetimes were pretty damn short.

PS- Sorry JC & CVK. Not trying to turn your blog into Rolling/Swirling Stone magazine.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 22:59:12 +0000

Thanks for the laugh Merq. I needed it today. Yes, I do believe that Mr. Kravitz has done fairly well for himself financially. As with most musicians he makes more money on tours than in Album sales and his concerts have sold very well. I would still love to be as unrespected as Lenny is in the music biz. As far as who owns what in music videos, I cannot comment as I do not watch them. Next, you’re going to tell me that there are dishonest people running record labels who take advantage of young artists to boost profits. Say it aint so! Have a great weekend.

By: Merq

Merq — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 22:53:32 +0000

Oh, wow.

I just realized that Bertie may be well be a dude. Dunno why I assumed otherwise. My bad.

Still, the sentiment remains. Words outta my mouth.